Rama's Splendour, Bharata's Detachment and the Elephant Trailokyamandana

Asked about Rama's and Lakshmana's wealth, Gautama names a part of it: forty-two lakh elephants and as many chariots, nine crore horses and forty-two crore foot soldiers, with gods and Vidyadharas of three continents as servants. Rama holds four jewels, the plough, the pestle, a jewelled garland and the mace, and Lakshmana seven, the conch, the discus, the mace, the sword, the staff, the serpent couch and the Kaustubha gem.

Their palace has a fortress called Chatushshala as tall as a mountain, the assembly hall Vaijayanta, the lofty mansion Prabhasakuta that looks out over all ten directions, the dance hall Vardhamana, a winter bedchamber, a fountain pavilion for summer noons, a rainy-season chamber, golden beds on lion-shaped ruby feet, and the sandals called Vishamochaka in which they walk through the sky. They own fifty lakh ploughs, more than a crore of cows and inexhaustible treasuries; Rama has eight thousand queens and Lakshmana sixteen thousand.

Like Harishena Chakravarti before him, Rama builds thousands of Jain temples in every land, town, forest and street, and gives houses, land, wealth and goods to the poor until all live like gods, so that every mouth sings the brothers' praise. Yet, through the rising of Sita's past karma, some ignorant people begin to whisper: Ravana carried Sita away and Rama brought her back into his house; if a great man does this, what will ordinary folk do?

In Ayodhya, which shames heaven, Bharata finds no joy in pleasures. He reflects that this human birth was won with great pain, that pleasures are bubbles, life a dream and family like birds that roost on a tree at night and scatter at dawn; that the body is a house of disease; and that the senses are never satisfied, as fire is never sated by fuel nor the ocean by rivers, since even twenty-two sagaras of divine pleasure and three palyas in a bhogabhumi brought no contentment. He recalls King Saudasa, who lost his kingdom craving forbidden meat, and the crow that drowned at sea feeding on a dead elephant in the Ganga.

Like a caged lion longing for the forest, Bharata resolves to leave home. Kaikeyi tells Rama, and Rama and Lakshmana take Bharata's hand: their father gave him the throne, so he is lord of the Raghus; Rama will hold the parasol over him, Shatrughna will wave the chowrie and Lakshmana will be his minister, and if he refuses Rama will go back into exile, though later he too will become a muni with him. Bharata answers that kingship is the enemy of beings and that he will cross the terrible ocean of samsara, with birth for its waves and love and hate for its sea monsters, on the ship of the muni's vows.

The kings weep and beg him to rule a little longer for his elder brother's sake, but Bharata says he has ruled long enough, cared for his people like children, given gifts, worshipped and served the sages, and now wants to do what his father did. As he sets out without leave, Lakshmana holds him back, Kaikeyi comes weeping, and at Rama's bidding the queens, Sita, Urvashi, Bhanumati, Vishalya, Ratnavati, Gunavati, Subhadra, Nalakuvara, Kalyanamala, Manorama, Priyananda, Kalavati, Sarasvati, Shrikanta, Padmavati and others, surround him like a blooming lotus forest.

Calling him their brother-in-law, the queens coax him to come and sport in a lake so as not to grieve his brothers and mothers. They play in the water and anoint him with fragrant pastes, but Bharata stands courteously on the bank, splashes no one and takes no pleasure in it; he simply bathes and goes to worship the Jina in a temple on the shore.

Just then the elephant Trailokyamandana breaks its tether, trumpeting and dripping ichor; the people of Ayodhya tremble, the other mahouts flee with their elephants, and the beast smashes the city gate and charges to the temple. The queens run to Bharata, Kaikeyi cries out for her son, and Rama and Lakshmana, skilled at binding elephants, hurry to catch it, while Bharata stands fearless before the queens.

On seeing Bharata, the elephant gains jatismarana (memory of past lives), grows calm, lets its trunk hang and stands humbly before him. When Bharata gently asks why it was angry, it gazes at him, realising that Bharata was its dearest friend in the sixth heaven, reborn as a noble man by the power of merit, while it was born an animal through evil karma. Cursing this birth, it resolves to strive for its own liberation; Gautama urges every listener to give up harmful deeds, hold to the Jina's dharma and go beyond both good and bad karma to nirvana.